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Iran Says It Has Lifted Self-Imposed 2,000km Ballistic-Missile Range Cap
By Maya Wilson
Maya Wilson
The Library Media’s World Desk lead and intelligence lead.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it has lifted the self-imposed 2,000-kilometre, or 1,250-mile, cap on the range of its ballistic missiles, in a move that could extend the reach of its arsenal beyond Europe’s threshold of concern.
The announcement was made at a news conference in Tehran by IRGC spokesman Brigadier-General Hossein Mohebbi, who said: “This limitation has been lifted for us.”
The range limit had been self-imposed. The IRGC had long presented the 2,000km cap as a form of reassurance to European countries, and separate United Nations restrictions under Security Council Resolution 2231 expired in October 2023.
Mohebbi did not say whether Iran already possesses missiles exceeding the former cap. According to Al Jazeera, he said Iran would demonstrate its capabilities through action rather than statements.
He also said that, if Iran decided to change its nuclear doctrine and build a bomb, the necessary preparations would be made.
Al Jazeera said Iran already has the operational capability to launch missiles beyond 2,000km, though it does not possess intercontinental ballistic missiles. A 2019 assessment by the United Kingdom, France and Germany put a lighter-warhead version of Iran’s Khorramshahr missile at roughly 3,000km, Al Jazeera reported.
The announcement could carry particular significance for Europe, although one expert cited by Al Jazeera urged caution about overstating its immediate implications.
Muhanad Seloom of the Doha Institute and the University of Exeter described the development as “worrying but not alarming” for Europe. He read it as a sign that Tehran views the conflict as existential, and as leverage for a deal as much as deterrence.
“It’s both,” Seloom said, according to Al Jazeera.
The report presents the decision as a significant change in Iran’s publicly stated approach to missile range, following years in which the 2,000km limit was treated as a stated boundary.
Al Jazeera reported no direct formal government reaction to the announcement itself. Any response from European governments or other international actors was not included in the report.
The IRGC’s declaration removes a self-imposed ceiling that Iranian officials had previously highlighted as a limit on the country’s missile programme, leaving the practical consequences to be shown in future Iranian actions rather than in the announcement itself.
Reporting based on Al Jazeera dispatches; this story will be updated as further confirmation arrives.
— Maya Wilson, World Desk
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